tabler



Oct. 10, 1950 v H. K. TABLER 2,525,187

GATE LATCH Original Filed May 18, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 HM I H; K.TABLER Oct. 10, 1950 GATE LATCH 2 Shee ts-Sheet 2 Original Filed m 18, 1945 m Mull-Ii? II m m R E B Attorney:

f UNITED ,STATES PATENT orries Patented Oct. 10, 1950 2,525,187 GATELATCH Herbert K. Tabler, Plymouth, Ill., assigno'r to Imogene Tablet,Plymouth, Ill. I Original application May 18, 1945, Serial No.

594,509, new Patent No. 2,469,019, dated May 3, 1949. Divided and thisapplication June 24,

1946, Serial No. 678,940

1 Claim. (Cl. 292-153) This invention relates to improvements in gatelatches and more particu arly to farm gates, especially of the typedisclosed inmy co-pending application entitled Gates, filed May 18,1945,

of points by transverse, vertical bars H. The

gate ;9 is adapted to be disposed between spaced 7 sa e posts 12 and i3and i swi eably c nnecte at one end thereof by conventional hinges l4tothe post 12 and by'means of which the gate 9 and bearing Serial No.594,509,.now Patent No. is supported in a vertical plane for swinging2,469,019, issued May 3, 194 9, of which this apmovement in a horizontalplane, all as clearly plication constitutes a division. illustrated inFigure 1.

A primary object of the present invention is As best seen in Figure 2,the transverse bars to provid a safety latch which will prevent cattlell are preferably disposed in pairs on opposite from accidentallyunlatching and opening the 10 sides of the rails ii] and the bars ll,located at gate by rubbing against the latch. the free end of the gate 9and between two of A further object of the invention is to provideotheurails it r-nountfla pair of vertically spaced a latch of simple andpractical construction, pins l5, as best seen in Figure 5-,Which form awhich is durable and strong, efficient and reliable guide for areciprocally mounted latch bar 15, in operation, relatively inexpensiveto manuone end of which is reciprocally disposed therefacture andotherwise Well adapted for the purbetween. A pair of vertically disposedbars I] poses for which the same is intended. are arranged on oppositesides of the rails it),

Other objects and advantages of the invention disposed above and belowthe latch bar L6 and Will hereinafter become more fully apparent aresecured to said rails, adjacent their ends, by from the followingdescription of the drawings, fastenings it. A bolt or pin {9, as bestseen in which illustrate preferred embodiments thereof, Figure 3,extends :between the bars ll, interand wherein: mediate of their endsand between said afore- Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a farmmentioned rails l0 and through an elongated gate of the type disclosedin my co-pending aplongitudinally disposed slot '20 inthe latch barplication, previously referred to, and with the i6 and .which is locatedadjacent the opposite, preferred embodiment of the latch appliedthereinner end thereof. v I to and-shown-in a position for retaining thegate The post i3 is provided with an inwardly facin in a closedposition; socket or recess 2! forminga keep r for receiv- Figure 2 is ahorizontal sectional view thereof ing the outer end of the latch bar itwhen the taken substantially along a plane as indicated latteris in aprojected position, asseen in Figures by the'line 2-2 of Figure 1; :1and 2. A latch lever 22 is pivotally mounted Figure 3 is an enlargedfragmentary horizontal adjacent one end thereof beneath the latch barsectional view taken substantially along a plane 16 and, between, thebars ll on a pivot pin 213 as indicated by the line 33 of Figure 1;which extends through the bars ll. Th upper Figure dis atransversevertical sectional view .edge of the pivoted end of the latchlever ,22 is taken substantially along a plane as indicated by providedwith a hook shaped extension ,24, as the line 44 of Figure 1; 7 bestseen in Figure 5, which engages one end of Figure 5 is afragmentary sideelevational view, a contractile coiled Spring 25, the opposite end p rly in vertical section showing the latch in of which is anchored to abracket 26 secured to an open position; 40 the rail l0, which isdisposed below the latch bar Figure 6 is an enlarged transversesectional I6 and between the latch lever 22 and the free view takensubstantially along a plane as indiend of' the gate 9. The latch 22 iscurved upcated by the line 66 of Figure 2; wardly intermediate of itsends so that the upper Figure 7 is a fragmentary side elevational viewfree end portion thereof will bear against the of a slightly modifiedform of the latch, and inner end of the latch bar It, when the latter isFigure 8 is a transverse sectional view thereof, in a projected positionin engagement with the taken substantially along a plane as indicatedkeeper 2|. The spring 25 acts to turn the latch by the line 8--8 ofFigure '7. lever 22 in a clockwise direction, as seen in FigureReferring more specifically to the drawings, 1, for yieldably bearingagainst the rear end of for the purpose of illustrating the invention,the latch bar It to resiliently retain it in an hereinafter to bedescribed, a conventional type operative position in engagement withkeeper 2|. of farm gate, designated generally 9 is illustrated As bestseen in Figures 5 and 6, the inner side in Figure 1 and includes aplurality of spaced of the latch lever 22 is provided With alongisuperposed horizontal rails [G which are contudinal groove 2? forbearing engagement with nected in spaced apart relationship at aplurality the latch bar It.

From the foregoing it will be readily obvious that the latch bar I6 canbe manually retracted for retracting the outer end thereof out ofengagement with the keeper 2I to permit opening of the gate 9. The latchbar I6 is retracted against the action of the spring due to the factthat the retraction thereof forces the latch lever 22 to swingdownwardly on its pivot 23 out of the path of movement of the latch barand so that the rear end thereof can pass over the free end of the latchlever, as illustrated in Figure 5. With the free endof the. latch lever22 disposed beneath the rear end of the latch bar I6 the groove 21thereof will bear against the under side of the latch bar and will befrictionally held in engagement therewith by the pull of the spring 25for frictionally retaining the latch bar I6 in a retracted, inoperativeposition, as seen in Figure 5. The latch bar I6 can be returned to anoperative position by manual movement thereof in the opposite direction,and as said latch bar approaches its outermost position, the upper endof the latch lever 22 will move into a position behind the inner end ofthe latch bar for urging it to a fully projected position.

A slightly modified form of the invention is illustrated in Figures 7and 8 and which is especially adapted for use on wire gates. A portionof such gate, designated generally 28 is illustrated in Figures 7 and 8and includes a portion of a tubular metal gate frame 29 across theopening of which is stretched a plurality of strands of wire, two ofwhich are indicated at 36. The gate 29 also includes a pair of laterallyspaced uprights 3I having a pin 32 extending therethrough for slidablyengaging the slot 20 of the latch bar I6. The latch bar I6 is guidedadjacent its opposite end by being reciprocally disposed in an opening33 of the upright 29. The gate 28 may be hingedly mounted in the samemanner as the gate 9 and the post 33 thereof, corresponding to the postI3 is provided With an inwardly opening recess or socket 34 forming akeeper for receiving the outer end of the latch bar I6, in the samemanner and for the same purpose as the keeper 2|. The latch structure ofFigures '7 and 8 includes a latch lever 35 which may be of substantiallythe same shape as the latch lever 22 but which differs therefrom in thatin lieu of the hook 24, the latch lever 35 is provided with an eyeextension 36 which projects from the pivoted end thereof. The pivoted,lower end of the latch lever 35 is disposed between the bars 3I and inpivotal engagement with a pin 31 which extends therethrough. Acontractile spring 38 is connected at one end to the eye 36 and isconnected at its opposite end to an anchor pin 39 which is mounted inthe bars 3|, below the lever 35. The groove in the inner side of thelever 22 may, if desired, be omitted from the lever 35, as illustrated.

The lever 35 operates in connection with the latch bar I6 of the gate 28in the same manner and for the same purpose as the latch lever 22, andas the operation of the latch bar I6 of the gate 28 is the same as thatof the latch bar of the gate 9, a further description of the operationof the gate latch shown in Figures 7 and 8 is considered unnecessary.

Various modifications and changes are contemplated and may obviously beresorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the inventionas hereinafter defined by the appended claim.

I claim:

A gate latch comprising a latch bar adapted to be slidably mounted on agate, a lever having right angularly disposed ends, one of said endsbeing pivoted to the gate, and spring means connected to the gate andlever and rocking the lever in a direction to urge the other end thereoftoward the latch bar, the inner edge of said last mentioned end of thelever engaging an end of the latch bar when the other end of the latchbar is in a projected, latching position, said first mentioned end ofthe latch bar being rounded, the distance between the pivot of the leverand the apex of the lever ends being less than the distance from theapex to the point of engagement of the last mentioned lever end with thefirst mentioned rounded end of the latch bar, said last mentioned end ofthe lever being held by the spring means in engagement with alongitudinal edge of the latch bar, when the latch bar is in a retractedposition, for frictionally retaining the latch bar in a retractedposition.

HERBERT K. TABLER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number

